Registered

I've seen two Versys now with SW-Motech engine bars that have had the bars pushed back into the radiator shroud after crashes, not simple tip overs, as in the picture below. Does anyone know what gets bent to cause this? Is something on the bike bent or is it the bars themselves? It is not obvious looking at the bike.

Registered

The front attachment tab of the right engine bar seems to have been bent slightly forward causing it to push back against the radiator. See the photo in first post of this thread to see how it contacts the radiator after being bent.

I heated the front tab, where it attaches to the engine bar, red hot with a propane torch and then hammered it back into place about ~2cm, so it aligned with the tab on the other bar when the other holes were aligned. Quenched it in cold water to harden the steel. To fix the scrapes I filed them down and then sanded the bars with 40,80 and 400 grit paper then painted with two coats of rustoleum type paint. The repaired bar seems to fit bike like new and is again symmetrical with the left hand side bar.

The SW-Motech bars have two rear (upper and lower) attachment points and one front attachment point (heavy steel tab). See the second picture below. It was this tab that bent slightly, where it attached to the bars, causing the engine bar on the right side to push back against the radiator. There was no structural damage to the bike and the bars likely saved it from much more severe damage. See first post in this thread for photos of damage.

That's really bizarre. I've had SWMs on my bike since 2009, and it's been on its side several times. Enough, in fact, to cause a crack in the vertical tube, adjacent to the front mount - a result of a manufacturing defect - weld undercutting. But NEVER, have they EVER, bent, in any way.

It seems like the upper rear mount - the frame tube mount - must have moved fore or aft, in order for the front mount to bend like that. Was the u-bolt tight, or was it re-positioned after the crash?

Also, would you mind sharing the nature of the crash that caused them to deform like that? It looks like you had some forward speed, based on the scrapes.

Registered

That's really bizarre. I've had SWMs on my bike since 2009, and it's been on its side several times. Enough, in fact, to cause a crack in the vertical tube, adjacent to the front mount - a result of a manufacturing defect - weld undercutting. But NEVER, have they EVER, bent, in any way.

It seems like the upper rear mount - the frame tube mount - must have moved fore or aft, in order for the front mount to bend like that. Was the u-bolt tight, or was it re-positioned after the crash?

Also, would you mind sharing the nature of the crash that caused them to deform like that? It looks like you had some forward speed, based on the scrapes.

I purchased this particular Versys late last fall after totaling my previous Versys in an accident. The totalled bike went down on it's side at speed and flipped several times in the air. The totalled Versys had this issue after the accident. It hit hard enough on it's side for the back of the passenger peg to puncture the swing arm. Despite this the SW-Motech bars protected the engine and frame. It was the high mileage that caused the appraiser to feel the bike was not cost effective to repair, not the damage alone. The bars did a hell of a job protecting the bike and had it had fewer miles and been newer would have been worth repairing in it's post crash condition.

The bars and bike in the photos are of the replacement 2010 Versys I purchased late last fall. It came as purchased with some damage of it's own hence the bent bars. It had the same issue as seen in photos. I have no idea how hard the bike in the pictures hit as it was the previous owner that did this damage. I suspect the bike did not slide far though as the scrapes to the bars did not go deep and the other damage to the bike was purely cosmetic except for the rear rim. The bike came with a rashed engine guard and fairing panel on the right side as well as a dented rear rim and cracked windshield. The fairing and bars turned out to be easily repairable. To repair the plastic fairing panel I used Plastex (to fix cracks and missing plastic pieces), glazing putty (to fill remaining minor surface imperfections) and color matched PPG automotive paint in a spray can (any auto paint store can put color matched paint into a custom made up spray can for ~$30) and finally clear coat in a spray can to repair the fairing to as new appearance.

My shifter is sticking when I down shift. It happens in all the gears but not all the time. So when I shift from 4th to 3rd, the lever does not come back up so I can go to 2nd. If I hit it with my foot a little then it will come back up and I can go down another gear. This only happens on...

There has been a bit of discussion about fitting R1 rear shocks to the Versys so when I saw a brand new 06 shock on Ebay for $75 I thought I would give it a go. The 06 model has the oil rservior at right angles to the body of the shock so if you fit it upside down it should clear everything and...

I was in the process of doing the valve adjustment and got the cams back in after swapping shims and the cam tensionor back on, but its not picking up slack in the chain, did the zip tie method for when removing the cams, the intake cam had a lot of tension when trying to re-seat it before...